A type of Buddhist print design made with a stamp. A seal, usually about 10 cm or smaller, is engraved with the image of a Buddhist deity, pagoda, or the name of a Buddha, and is pressed onto paper or cloth using ink or cinnabar. The same image is printed many times to cover the entire surface of the object to be decorated, and daily stamping of inbutsu is considered an act of religious piety. The completed prints are placed inside a Buddhist statue (see *zōnai nōnyūhin 像内納入品).
Inbutsu originated in India and were brought to Japan, via China, in the 9th century. Clay and metal printing seals are reported to have been used in India and China; in Japan wood was most common. Originally the term inbutsu was not distinguished from *suribotoke 摺仏. Later, suribotoke came to refer to larger, more elaborate single images, made by pressing the paper over the printing block; and inbutsu to small, multiple, pressed designs, usually in simple dark lines, yōkoku 陽刻. The oldest known inbutsu made in Japan are: the 100 images of *Amida 阿弥陀 inside the central Amida Nyoraizō 阿弥陀如来像 in Jōruriji 浄瑠璃寺 (1105), Kyoto; prints of *Bishamonten 毘沙門天 (dedicated in 1162), inside the Bishamontenzō 毘沙門天像 in the Kawabata 川端 collection, Nara. This inbutsu is said to consist of 1000 images of Bishamonten, 10 figures on each of 100 pages.